The banking environment here in Canada means we dont have as many choices as our southern neighbours when it comes to credit cards. When Canadas smaller market size is combined with our more conservative banks, the result is a lot of pretty boring cards. Amex, however, upended the status quo with its American Express Cobalt…
Continue reading: American Express Cobalt Review (Canada)
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Kate, I think you missed the best reward the card has. The ability to convert Cobalt MR points to Marriott Bonvoy at 5MR=6 Bonvoy
Whaaaaaat...no "Bottom line"? Ironic considering it's the one post where the term is almost used correctly 🙂
The new limit of 30,000 points per year is why I won't apply for the card. I find it a bit of a bait and switch, tbh.
And you CAN convert MR (Cobalt) points into Aeroplan miles, by running them through a Bonvoy account. Transfer MR to Bonvoy, then shift Bonvoy points to Aeroplan miles.
@KyleB, Ben values Bonvoy points at 0.7c each, so the fixed points flights at 1.8-2.0c each seems like a much higher value to me.
Typo? At the beginning of this post, a warning is described about this card earning Membership Rewards *Select* points rather than “regular” Membership Rewards points. Then, at the end, mention is made of earning extra (regular?) Membership Rewards points based on Cobalt spend. In other words, it’s not *entirely* clear if all bonuses are Membership Rewards *Select* or (regular.)
Okay, I just have to say, as a fellow Canadian, this article is really poor. The $30,000 change comes into effect today, August 20, not August 1. A simple click on the Cobalt page on the AMEX Canada website will show this. The card has been out since 2017, so it didn't come out "last year". Also, as another commenter already said, the best perk of this card is that is transfers to Marriott at 5:6, which was left out of your article.
I'm excited to see more fellow Canadian content on here, but please please research and double-check everything before posting because the last thing we need is false or incomplete information being spread around, especially to an audience the size that OMAAT has.
If you have an Amex that earns "full" MR points (Gold or Platinum), can you transfer the MR Select to full MR?
I think that's possible in the US, but not sure in Canada.
@Todd: There's no limit on the number of points you can earn with the Cobalt card. The only limitation is on the 5x multiplier, which applies on the first $30K spent in that category per year. (After that, you'll still earn 1x the points per dollar spent in that category.) Factoring in the 30K bonus for spending $500+ each month on the card, it's perfectly feasible to hit 100K MR Select points in the first year, even with only pretty casual spending.
Carlos, yes it does. The only one I remember that didn’t—that I ever had—was the Chase Marriott. But Chase left the Canadian scene a while back.
Are your valuations of 1000 points = $7 described here in CAD or USD?
Also notable: acceptance of AmEx in Canada (at least in Quebec) sucks. For example, it's not accepted at my local (major) grocery store -- so much for the 5X bonus!
I've got agree with some here, this is not well researched. This card has been out for some time and the details are public knowledge. I'm all for Canadian content but make it readable.
What cross border cards can a US citizen apply in the Canadian market or for that matter worldwide?
“I’ll have a specific post soon with details on the Fixed Points Travel Program, such as what counts as Popular or Short-haul destinations.”
When you do, I hope it is in-depth and well researched on this option. Some suggestions include how to book the flights you want and not the ones it suggests (ie: segment by segment, mix multiple airlines etc). This would be very unique and useful information.
Thanks for adding a Canadian perspective and looking forward to it refining and improving with each post.
"Based on online reports, despite clearly being food, purchases from meal kit companies like Hello Fresh and ChefsPlate aren’t posting with the bonus, so you may want to put those charges on another card."
Are you sure about that? At least on the US side, Hello Fresh purchases most definitely do post as grocery purchases when you pay with an Amex. I've been taking advantage of the 4x on groceries with the Amex Gold on Hello Fresh boxes for quite some time now.
Hi Kate, welcome ! How about additional cardholders, in my case my wife . Is it possible? Is there a fee? Thank you
Looks (as in aesthetically) exactly like the Amex Explorer in Australia. That was an amazing offering for a while, 100,000 point signup bonus, 2x points on everything, and linked to Platinum Edge (3x on fuel/supermarket) all points transferred 1:1 to airlines.
Our MR programme was decimated in April, it's not 2:1 for airlines. Was good while it lasted though.
On Amex's website, Cobalt is marked to be earning Membership Reward Points instead of Membership Reward Select Points. There are also articles online released recently reporting Amex phasing out Select Points. Can you verify that?